The women’s tennis team was defeated by Clemson 5-2 during a home match at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Sunday. The Wolfpack, who are ranked No. 32 in the nation, dropped four straight singles matches to the No. 15 Tigers after clenching a narrow victory for the doubles match point. Coach Hans Olsen thought the performance provided by his doubles teams was the highlight of the evening.

“We did a great job on all three of the doubles courts today,” Olsen said. “We won two and lost one but all three had a great energy and great intensity and that works for us, in the ACC especially. The third doubles team was down 7-3 and the girls fought back and won 9-8 to get the doubles point and put us off to a good start.”

Lenka Hojckova and Tatiana Illova made short work of Clemson’s doubles team in the No. 2 spot, winning 8-3. Then Sanaa Bhambri and Sandhya Nagaraj, who are nationally ranked No. 19 in doubles, fell 6-8 to the Tigers’ No. 1 spot team, who are ranked No. 1 in the nation. In the No. 3 doubles spot stood Ashley Miller and Joelle Kissell, who, after being down 7-3, managed to rally their points and win 9-8. Miller was thrilled to clinch the doubles match point for her team.

“Our doubles match was very exciting,” Miller said. “We were down and they actually had a match point and we came back with a lot of energy and we were both very aggressive. I think that is the reason why we won.”

Miller’s partner, Kissell, who has been undefeated in singles matches since March 1, played to the only victory in singles match play on the day. Kissell shared her optimistic view on her game play and on her newly found success in doubles play.

“I feel like I’m playing pretty well,” Kissell said. “I hope I can keep giving it my all and playing to the best of my ability. The doubles match was so awesome. I’ve never been so pumped in my life. Ashley and I were down and came back and ended up winning as the deciding match. Everyone was cheering and it was just a great moment. I was glad to share that moment with Ashley.”

Olsen, who was proud of his team’s performance, lamented on the results from the singles matches against the Tigers.

“We were off to a good start,” Olsen said. “Then we came out in singles. I thought we were fighting and working hard on five courts but not on all six courts. I think we needed to keep the energy going and be ready to bring it on all courts. I think this day showed an improvement for us on the doubles side but we have to be able to match the energy we bring in doubles through out all of the singles matches and all the way until the end of the matches.”

The Pack will spend the week preparing for competition on the road as State will travel to Tallahassee to play Florida State on Friday and then to the University of Miami to take on the Hurricanes on Sunday.